It is believed that depression and various forms of mental illness are much more common among Jehovah's Witnesses than the general population. They have a rigorous schedule of about five hours of meetings a week plus door knocking and studying. They often feel like they just can never do enough. One study indicated that Jehovah's Witnesses have a rate of schizophrenia that is about three times the rate of the general population and a rate of paranoid schizophrenia that is almost four times the rate of the general population. With this in mind, it may be interesting to examine some of their past quotes about psychiatry.
"So we must shun the false guides of men and their false religions, babbling psychologists, wordy psychiatrists and polluted politicians, all of which have built up such tremendous reputations as colossal failures. Look at the messes they have made, know them by their rotten fruits, reject them for their fruits." -Watchtower of January 15, 1952 page 53
"As a rule, for a Christian to go to a worldly psychiatrist is an admission of defeat, it amounts to 'going down to Egypt for help.' —Isaiah 31:1.
Often when a Witness of Jehovah goes to a psychiatrist, the psychiatrist will try to persuade him that his troubles are caused by his religion, entirely overlooking the fact that the Christian witnesses of Jehovah are the best-oriented, happiest and most contented group of people on the face of the earth. They have the least need for psychiatrists." Awake! of March 8, 1960 page 27
See also this article.
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